The present invention generally relates to communication apparatus having a data transfer function, and more particularly to a communication apparatus which records a received information from a calling terminal and automatically calls a predetermined destination terminal so that the recorded information is transferred to the predetermined destination terminal.
Recently, communication terminals have been designed to have an enhanced data transmission capability. For example, a telephone apparatus which features an absence recording capability is developed and commercially available. The absence recording described herein is a capability or function of a communication apparatus to automatically reply to a call when received from a calling terminal through a data transmission path during the absence of an operator and operate for recording a speech message or image data received from the calling terminal onto a data storage medium such as a magnetic tape, an IC card or the like which is provided within the communication apparatus. However, such a conventional absence recording is designed only for accomplishing a simple task of recording a message or image received from a counterparty. The recorded information is not available to the operator of the apparatus who is out and visits a place distant from the location of the apparatus. The only and earliest method for the operator to receive the recorded information is to reproduce the recorded information with the apparatus when he returns to his home or office where the apparatus is located.
Further, a conventional communication apparatus having a data transfer capability is developed and commercially available. The data transfer described herein specifically is an improved capability or function of a communication apparatus to automatically call a predetermined destination terminal and transfer the information from any calling terminal being recorded in the data storage medium to the predetermined destination terminal to make the information available to the operator. In such a communication apparatus having the data transfer capability, for example, a telephone apparatus, the operator before going out must carry out a procedure for registering a telephone number of a destination telephone terminal to be recorded in the telephone apparatus. In this case, the conventional telephone apparatus stores the registration data of a single destination terminal's telephone number only. However, the need to transfer the recorded information to a different destination terminal from the destination terminal does frequently arise because the destination which the operator will visit is altered for any reason or a separate destination terminal should be specified depending on when and where the operator will actually visit. To allow modification of the destination terminal to which the recorded information is transferred, there are also several telephone apparatus having an improved capability which are commercially available. One of those telephone apparatus is capable of changing or deleting the recorded destination terminal data by a remote operation of sending a tone signal to that telephone apparatus from an external telephone terminal. Another one of such improved telephone apparatus is capable of reproducing the absence-recorded message by remote control using an external telephone terminal.
Similarly, there is a facsimile apparatus which has the above mentioned data transfer capability, as disclosed, for example, in Japanese Published Patent Appln. No. 94767/1988. In such a facsimile apparatus, image information when a call is received during absence of an operator is stored in an image memory part of the facsimile apparatus, and once a prescribed dial pulse is received from an external telephone terminal the absence-recorded image information is transferred to a predetermined destination terminal.
However, the conventional communication apparatus of the type described above requires a further improvement being made for the ease to use and the convenience for the user. In such an apparatus storing only one destination terminal data for the data transfer, it is necessary to make a reentry of the destination terminal data when the data already recorded must be changed. This is a troublesome task for the user who must modify the destination terminal data each time the destination place is altered, especially when two or more destination places are scheduled to visit on the same day.
In addition, in the case of the conventional facsimile apparatus, it is possible to store a plurality of telephone numbers of destination terminals which correspond with respective dial pulses. After answering a call from a calling terminal, the conventional facsimile apparatus, if a dial pulse is received from the calling terminal, calls a predetermined destination terminal corresponding to the dial pulse and transfers the received image information to the destination terminal. To transfer the image information to the destination terminal at a place which the user visits, the user must transmit the prescribed dial pulse to the facsimile apparatus by a remote operation. This is often a time-consuming, troublesome task for the user. And, before the data transfer, the user cannot check at his destination place if there is a received image information in the facsimile apparatus. Therefore, the conventional communication apparatus still has a problem concerning the ease to use and the convenience for the user.